Monday 21 September 2009

‘Sexy’ new PLA uniforms set to turn heads at the big parade in Beijing

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Guanyu said...

‘Sexy’ new PLA uniforms set to turn heads at the big parade in Beijing

Minnie Chan
20 September 2009

When members of the People’s Liberation Army march down Changan Avenue on October 1, the top brass on the rostrum in Tiananmen Square may struggle to keep their eyes front.

The troops will be sporting eye-catching new uniforms that have been praised for being modern, well-tailored, practical - and even sexy.

According to the PLA Daily, all armed forces, including the elite strategic missile corps, will be wearing the “07-type” uniforms for the first time at a public display as they are inspected by their commander-in-chief, President Hu Jintao.

Introduced in 2007 to mark the PLA’s 80th anniversary, the uniforms come in four basic categories and 644 variations. The newspaper lavished praise on their “modern design, harmonious and solemn colours, comfortable and well-tailored sizes, and better fabrics and quality”.

Ornaments like chest badges, name bars, ribbons and other insignia have been added to the uniform. “Caps with curled brims,” the report noted, “have been issued for the first time to present a more charming demeanour for female soldiers”.

This is all a far cry from the parade to mark the founding of the People’s Republic on October 1, 1949. Back then, with fighting against the Kuomintang still raging in the south, troops were a ragtag bunch, unable to scrape together matching kit. Men wore helmets and yellow and green uniforms, while female soldiers put on unflattering yellow dresses.

Since then, the Central Military Commission has made four uniform changes - in 1955, 1965, 1987 and 2007. The first formal uniform was introduced in 1955, after the establishment of the 10 marshals and other rankings for the PLA’s founding fathers. However, ranking was cancelled in 1965, one year before the Cultural Revolution.

The PLA’s deep-green uniform became the clothing of choice for Chinese youth from the 1960s to 1980s. But in the Sino-Vietnamese war of 1979, the confusion springing from the lack of visible rank was seen as a contributing factor to the PLA’s disastrous performance.

The commission reinstated full ranking in 1988, and as China opened its doors to the outside world through the 1980s it allowed designers to learn from Western uniform styles. It adopted camouflage for battledress, and separate ceremonial and service uniforms in 1987.

Hong Kong fashion designer William Tang said the uniforms were now close to international standards. “They’ve learned a lot from Western countries’ designs, such as Britain, which reflect bravery by highlighting good proportions in the human figure,” he said.

Tang said the new designs borrowed from pre-1997 handover Hong Kong police uniforms. “The PLA’s new summer uniform is light-olive green with a blue beret, which is very similar to the old summer uniform worn by the police force during the British colonial era,” Tang said. “It’s a pity the SAR government gave this up to become more united with the mainland police force for political consideration. Fashion designers joked that this made our police officers look more like security guards.”

Hong Kong-based political commentator Poon Siu-to said the new uniforms were all part of the attempt to improve the public perception of the PLA. “The massive uniform reforms since 1987 reflect economic achievements in the past two decades, during which military budgets have also increased,” Poon said.

Many analysts believe the uniform changes are part of the PLA’s campaign to repair its tarnished image after the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. Poon said smart uniforms might improve public perception, but the 82-year-old army would require institutional reform to make it a modern combat force.